Greg Corombos of Radio America and Ian Tuttle of National Review discuss millennials choosing Hillary Clinton by a much smaller margin than Barack Obama enjoyed in previous elections. They also unload on the liberal politicians and columnists screaming for the Electoral College to be abolished. And they slam the media for throwing a fit over Donald Trump going out to dinner without telling the media.
The Washington State Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in the case of the Christian florist being sued by the state for refusing to provide arrangements for a same-sex marriage ceremony more than three years ago.
Barronnelle Stutzman faces the possibility of losing her business, her home and her life savings unless the state supreme court overturns lower court rulings that Stutzman violated state discrimination laws.
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a friend of the court brief leading up to Tuesday’s hearing. Legal Counsel Adele Keim says Stutzman is being targeted by the government for holding beliefs in conflict with a customer.
“We know that we live in a pluralistic society. If there’s anything that’s true about people in the United States, of America, it’s that we disagree about important issues, things like sex, things like religion. You name it and you can find two Americans with different views on it,” said Keim.
“The issue in Barronnelle’s case is that the power of the state is being used to punish her because she expressed her disagreement,” added Keim.
Keim says Stutzman’s career shows she does not discriminate against gays and lesbians or anyone else.
“Barronnelle Stutzman has employed LGBT people and served LGBT people, including the couple that has turned around and sued her, for two decades,” said Keim. “She served this couple for nine years. She made their Valentine’s Day arrangements for years.”
In 2013, Rob Ingersoll asked Stutzman to provide floral arrangement for his same-sex ceremony with Curt Freed. Keim says Stutzman was as loving as possible in denying the request.
“She took his hand and with tears in her eyes she said, ‘My faith doesn’t allow me to do that.’ She’s a Southern Baptist and participating in a same-sex wedding was just something she felt she couldn’t do,” said Keim.
She says Ingersoll is the one who turned this into an ordeal that eventually involved the state government targeting Stutzman.
“Instead of saying, “I understand. We’re going to go our separate ways,’ he started talking about it to the media. The state attorney general (Bob Ferguson) heard about it and made an issue out of it, even suing Barronnelle. The ACLU soon joined the lawsuit and Barronnelle now stands to lose not just her business but also her home and her life savings,” said Keim.
Prior court rulings have ordered Stutzman to pay Ingersoll’s legal fees. Keim estimates that total could run into the tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars after several rounds of the case in court, even though a previous court found that Ingersoll and Freed suffered eight dollars in damages.
Keim says Stutzman had the opportunity to settle the case for a smaller fine but refused.
“For Barronnelle, the issue has never been about money. The state offered to settle the case for a couple thousand dollars a couple of years ago. She said, ‘I can’t, because if I settle for that money, you’re going to require me to participate in same-sex weddings in the future and my faith just doesn’t allow that,'” said Keim.
Stutzman and her supporters are encouraged by the number of legal experts weighing in on her side.
“The National Latino Christian Leadership Caucus has joined her. African-American pastors have joined her and stood with her and said, ‘There are many, many thousands of Barronnelle’s out there,’ and have asked the court to protect her from the misuse of this law,” said Keim.
“So we’re hopeful that with this chorus of support for Barronnelle Stutzman, the Washington State Supreme Court will take another look and reconsider,” said Keim.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Ian Tuttle of National Review have only crazy stories today. They discuss Pres. Obama urging Donald Trump to reach out to those who didn’t support him, after Obama spent eight years dismissing and demonizing the opposition. They also cringe at reports that Donald Trump is trying to get cabinet-level security clearances for three of his children. And they sigh as faculty and students at the University of Virginia condemn the school’s president for quoting Thomas Jefferson, who founded the University of Virginia.
Donald Trump made headlines Sunday, telling “60 Minutes” that he considered same-sex marriage settled law and had no plans to revisit it during his time in office, a statement that doesn’t seem dampen the spirits of the overwhelming majority of evangelicals who backed the GOP nominee last week.
“These cases have gone to the Supreme Court. They’ve been settled, and I’m fine with that,” Trump told correspondent Lesley Stahl.
Liberty Counsel Chairman Mathew Staver says he would not expect Trump to aggressively address the issue since he has spent so little time on it. Ultimately, Staver says the definition of marriage and other hot-button issues like abortion, will mainly be influenced by the types of judges Trump nominates.
“If you have a person who is a pro-life justice, that’s a person who’s not going to be an activist justice or judge. If they’re not going to be activist on the pro-life, they’re not going to be activist on the issue same-sex marriage because that’s an even further deviation from the Constitution beyond belief,” said Staver.
He also points out that Trump will need to fill additional vacancies for there to be any hope of overruling the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
“Just give the opportunity to fill those seats to someone who respects the Constitution and this razor-thin 5-4 decision on same-sex marriage, I think, will be in the same trash bin of history that Dred Scott found itself to be in when people began to wake up and have common sense,” said Staver.
And he likes what Trump has said about judges thus far.
“I’ve been pleased with his position on appointing pro-life judges and justices and vetting them through the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. That’s a big deal. That’s a huge deal, not just on the issue of life, but across the board. You get the justice or judge that has a judicial philosophy to interpret the Constitution, rather than to create a brand new Constitution,” said Staver.
Trump actively courted the LGBT vote in the 2016 campaign. He initially supported allowing people to use restrooms and other intimate facilities based on their gender identity rather than their biological sex. He later stated that he believes the decision should be left to the states. In the final days of the campaign, Trump held up the LGBT rainbow flag at a rally in Colorado.
Still, Staver expects far less federal mandates designed to implement the LGBT agenda from a Trump administration.
“I don’t expect President-Elect Donald Trump and his administration to be sending out letters like the transgender directive to the public schools or the federal agencies or the EEOC. I think that’s going to come to an end. I think there’s going to be an end to a lot of these things that President Obama has been pushing that’s going to come to a screeching halt,” said Staver.
He says that will be evident on the international stage as well.
“This administration, and Secretary (Hillary) Clinton was a part of it, has been pushing foreign nations to liberalize their abortion and same-sex marriage and marriage laws and LGBT laws. If they don’t, they’re threatening to withdraw the [foreign aid] for them. That I think is all going to stop. That’s not something [Trump] is going to push as an agenda,” said Staver.
Staver is also very confident that Trump’s policies and personnel will be markedly better than what we would have seen in a Hillary Clinton presidency.
“You would have had Obama on steroids. I think Hillary is of the same worldview and radical mindset as President Obama, but she’s more devious than president Obama,” said Staver.
Staver was very encouraged by Trump’s “60 Minutes” comments in which he again vowed to appoint pro-life Supreme Court justices, stating he believed abortion should be decided state by state and not imposed on the nation by the Supreme Court.
And he says the appointments to lower courts are also vital for conservatives.
“I’m looking forward to who the next Supreme Court justice will be, and not just that. We’ve got, potentially, other justices, and lots of appellate courts and district courts that will come available that this president-elect will appoint. I think that is good news for the American people. It’s certainly good news for life and the courts,” said Staver.
Other appointments will matter greatly to social conservatives, including attorney general and secretary of Health and Human Services. Staver says he is encouraged by the selection of Reince Priebus as chief of staff and believes the influence of former Trump Campaign Manager Kellyanne Conway is also a good influence on Trump.
He also believes cabinet nominations will be better than anything we would have seen if Hillary Clinton had won the election.
“The worst possible choice of a Donald Trump presidency would be better than the choices of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. There’s nothing to do but to improve the situation,” said Staver.
In fact, he expects a more conservative cabinet than many previous Republican presidents.
“I’m sure there are some things that he’s going to do, people that he will appoint that we won’t all agree with. On the other hand, at this stage, I can tell you that in past presidential elections, George W. Bush, George H.W. Bush, many of these individuals that got to be in a position like him, they began to put people around them that are just the old guard. That’s not what’s happening with this administration,” said Staver.
Liberty Counsel is bathing the transition period in prayer. Staver says there is ’round the clock and ’round the world intercession happening for Trump and his administration.
“It’s called Liberty Prayer Network. We are participating in and helping to spearhead a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week, 70 days of continual prayer,” said Staver. “It’s in process now. Someone is committed every hour and people are participating across the country in this international and national prayer for America,” said Staver.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and Ian Tuttle of National Review discuss the selection of RNC Chairman Reince Priebus as Donald Trump incoming chief of staff. They also react to Stephen Bannon being named as chief strategist and counselor in the Trump administration. And they discuss Democrats planning to push Nancy Pelosi for leader of House Democrats and possibly firebrand liberal Keith Ellison for DNC chairman.
The Capitol Steps parody troupe reveals the succinct and quite effective message that propelled Donald Trump to the White House. Our guest is Capitol Steps star and co-founder Elaina Newport.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and David French of National Review applaud TNT sports anchor Ernie Johnson for reacting to the 2016 election by trusting God, praying for Trump and pledging to do his part to make America better. They also sigh at reports that the Clintons are grooming Chelsea for a congressional bid in New York. And they react to liberal activists in Oregon and California leading efforts to secede from the U.S. because Trump won the election.
After intense Republican friction over Donald Trump’s candidacy, the vast majority of conservatives eventually voted for their party’s nominee for the sake of defeating Hillary Clinton and preserving the Supreme Court.
In the process, the conservatives also find themselves in a new coalition that a longtime conservative activist says is a major upgrade to the way the GOP has operated for the past century.
While much has been made of the million of new voters Trump attracted to the GOP, he also had to work harder than most nominees to rally his own party.
For much of the campaign, Trump lagged behind Clinton in getting conservative and Republican voters to line up behind him in the general election. But by election night, exit polls showed 90 percent of Republicans did just that.
Longtime conservative activist and ConservativeHQ.com Chairman Richard Viguerie says there’s two big reasons Republicans came home.
“The top two things that united conservatives and brought them home to support Trump and the Republican ticket was Hillary Clinton and the Supreme Court vacancy,” said Viguerie.
“They really understood the Supreme Court and not just one appointment. She would set the Supreme Court on a direction to be controlled by the left wing for 30 or more years. It just terrified conservatives,” said Viguerie.
He says conservatives wanted nothing to do with the rest of Clinton’s vision for the U.S. either.
“They knew she was a leftist and the Democratic Party is growing more left wing every day. We could expect a country that we wouldn’t recognize in four years. It really terrified conservatives at the grass roots level,” he said.
According to Viguerie, Trump has successfully created a new base for the Republican Party, a major departure from what has existed since the early part of the 20th century.
“The old coalition on the Republican side was the establishment Republicans and the constitutional, grassroots conservatives. Conservatives were the junior partner in that relationship,” said Viguerie.
“We have a new coalition now, and that’s the Trump populist and the constitutional grassroots conservatives. That’s going to be a governing coalition for many years to come. I think it’s going to be exciting to watch this new coalition without being interfered with by the Bushes of the world and the Mitt Romney wing of the party,” said Viguerie.
He says the Trump campaign itself was actually more conservative than those run on behalf of Barry Goldwater in 1964 and Ronald Reagan in 1980.
“The conservatives were involved in the (1964) campaign but it was basically run by the Republican establishment. 1980 was Reagan’s first election victory. He won that. It was a conservative victory, but the Republican establishment basically ran the campaign,” said Viguerie.
To the contrary, he points out that the final three months of the Trump campaign were run by longtime conservative fixtures KellyAnne Conway, Steve Bannon and David Bossie.
“No presidential campaign in my lifetime has looked like this. Personnel is policy. The people around him, the people who brought him over the finish line is us. It’s the conservative movement,” said Viguerie.
Viguerie would not publicly mention conservative cabinet possibilities he would like to see Trump nominate, but he expects strong conservatives to “dominate” the key positions. He says conservatives would be smart to spend their time trying to stop Trump from making bad choices.
“The focus for conservatives publicly should be who we don’t want. We recognize that people like Chris Christie are going to have some role in the administration but you do not want someone like him in the attorney general’s office,” said Viguerie. “We need to make sure Donald Trump understands there’s certain people just beyond the pale.”
As for the top early legislative priorities, Viguerie says the first job is to make sure the lame duck session of Congress has little impact.
“We don’t want any serious legislation done in the lame duck, just a clean continuing resolution and to defer spending decisions to the new administration,” he said.
When Trump does get a chance to put his stamp on federal spending, Viguerie wants to see an end to federal funding of liberal activism. He says conservative groups don’t get taxpayer money and they don’t want it. He says liberals should not get it either.
On the policy front, Viguerie says the repeal and replacement of Obamacare must be at the top of the list.
“That’s a promise that the Republicans have been making for six years. Now they need to deliver and repeal Obamacare and replace it with something much better. I’d be surprised, shocked, and disappointed if Republicans don’t do that early on in the new administration,” said Viguerie.
Greg Corombos of Radio America and David French of National Review applaud Democrats for suddenly recognizing and appreciating things like federalism, freedom of dissent, and the separation of powers now that Republicans are headed back to the White House. They also slam the anti-Trump protesters for blocking traffic and engaging in violence and the colleges offering safe spaces, counseling, and even crayons and Play-Doh to students bothered by Trump’s win. And they discuss the liberal calls for abolishing the Electoral College.
Donald J. Trump stunned the political world to win the 2016 presidential election Tuesday night, not only defeating Hillary Clinton but winning states that hadn’t voted for a Republican since the 1980s.
In addition to piling up wins in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, and Iowa, Trump scored unexpected wins in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He currently holds a small lead in Michigan.
Independent Women’s Forum Senior Fellow Gayle Trotter, who is also a regular panelist on the Fox News Channel’s “Media Buzz” program, says many Americans who feel ignored and disrespected found a champion in Trump.
“He tapped into a groundswell of the people and he was able to take the issues that so many Americans feel have been shoved down in importance,” said Trotter.
Why did they trust Trump?
“He promised them that he would listen to them and that he wouldn’t say one thing and do another thing. I think that’s the problem that Americans have seen with politicians on the right and the left,” said Trotter.
Trotter says Trump successfully maintained a balance of convincing voters that he was not part of the problem in Washington but was competent to fix them.
“He listened to the American people. He could do a really strong argument that he was not part of the Washington cartel. On top of that, he was able to tell the American people that he wasn’t some kind of rube who didn’t understand how government worked but he was outside of it. He convinced the American people that he was not only able to fix it, but he meant what he said,” stated Trotter.
It’s those people, whom Trump refers to as “forgotten,” that are now handing him the keys to the Oval Office.
“Donald Trump has promised a vision of America that has been swelling from the bottom up, and now he has a mandate to achieve it,” said Trotter, noting that Trump will take office with Republicans controlling both the House and Senate.
Trotter says many people had their lives changed by Trump’s win, from FBI agents dealing with political pressure while pursuing the truth to coal miners trying to save their livelihoods to the men and women of our military who need more help.
In addition to Trump resonating in forgotten corners of the United States, Trotter says he benefited from running against a deeply flawed opponent in Hillary Clinton.
“I think Americans were as tired of her and the corruption that has surrounded her time in office, and which surrounded her time as first lady, not only of the United States but as First Lady of Arkansas. She was probably one of the absolute weakest candidates that the Democratic Party could have put up against Donald Trump,” said Trotter.
Clinton and the media spent a lot of time discussing Trump’s character issues, from controversial statement to his interaction with women. Trotter says voters knew Clinton did not hold the moral high ground in this campaign.
“It was a perfect storm of Hillary Clinton not being able to stand up and challenge Donald Trump on character issues. But also she was not seen as being a person who’s not honest about what she believed in and what she was going to do while she was in office,” said Trotter.
In the midst of Trump’s victory, other analysts saw a more sinister reason for Trump’s win.
“This was a whitelash against a changing country. It was a whitelash against a black president in part. And that’s the part where the pain comes,” said former Obama adviser and CNN contributor Van Jones.
Trotter vigorously rejects that analysis.
“He is so wrong. He couldn’t be more wrong. He is doubling down on the Democratic Party and the left’s identity politics trying to divide the nation, trying to understand how someone in their party who was the inevitable candidate could not pull it off,” said Trotter.
Speaking of the media, Trotter says there needs to be a serious investigation into the alliance between Democrats and major media outlets after revelations exposed through WikiLeaks.
“There really should be a blue ribbon panel that investigates the collusion of the mainstream media with the Hillary Clinton campaign,” said Trotter.
As for the Democrats, Trotter says ditching identity politics and and working in more of a good faith effort toward solving problems would serve the party well in the years to come.
